Last year the YEP toured the circus before draft legislation to enforce an outright ban on the use of wild animals in circuses was blocked by MPs for the seventh time in December.

From 1998/9 the number of circuses practicing with wild animals in the UK fell from 20 to four in just five years, with dwindling audiences and high-profile animal cruelty cases contributing to the fact that only two such circuses exist today.

Circus Mondao, with its collection of over 30 mainly grazing stock, and the only other licensed circus with wild animal acts, Peter Jolly’s Circus, have rarely been out of the headlines as a result.

Both remaining UK animal circuses are regularly vetted and have been licensed by DEFRA.

For information visit www.circusmondao.co.uk.

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